18 months

Lucy, our fiesty girl. Our sweet, opinionated, determined little spirit.

You have, in the words of a family friend, personality plus. You are determined and tough, and happiest when in the limelight. You like to dance and climb and jump and run. I laugh at myself because when I found out you were going to be a girl I had a lot of images of the sweet demure little girls I know - sitting quietly playing with dolls or drawing pictures. I thought, this will be an interesting change from my rough and tumble rowdy boys. Ha! Demure, you are not. Of all our children, at 18 months you are the most active, the most coordinated and the most energetic.

You still love your thumb and you're a blanket baby, rubbing the silky corner between your fingers while you sleep.

The other day your Nonny (JP) was holding you and she exclaimed: We all thought you guys were crazy to have another child, but it turns out you were the smartest. It was such a good idea to have this girl! She's right. It was a good idea. And now none of us can remember what life was like without you. You have brought a special spark of light to our family and we are so glad you're here.

elcks

ELCKS: Eugene Ladies Crafting and Knitting Society. Founded winter 2004.

From the picture below you might assume that it's more of a wine drinking society than a knitting group, and you would be mostly correct. I started ELCKS with Rohanna, Jess, and a few other ladies that winter, mostly because I was lonely. I had recently moved back to Eugene from Austin and needed to be able to count on some regular social interaction.

Inspired by the book that helped resurface the stitch 'n bitch tradition in America, I hosted the first ELCKS in my livingroom five years ago.

Since then, ladies have come and ladies have gone, but there's a core group of us who have faithfully met every other Tuesday evening with a few bottles of wine, some chocolate and some kind of craft. Usually knitting, but people have brought beading, modge podge, sewing, and last night Alison made valentines.

Our ELCKS email list now has 13 women on it, and we're all different. Some of us have busy careers, some of us are busy moms, some of us try to juggle both. But our mutual love of making things unites us. We bring each other dinners after babies are born or when someone gets sick, and each ELCKS baby has received a joint gift. We've knit washcloths and made a felt book, and when Lucy was born the ladies made her this blanket that I will treasure forever.

whidbey island

On a whim we decided to rally Joel's family and spend MLK weekend on Whidbey Island. We found a huge house to rent and set off in the minivan in the pouring rain.

We took JP with us, and met Kitty, David and Sylvia up there. Joel's Grandma June lives on Whidbey, along with two aunts and an uncle.

After one glorious blue sky morning, it rained most of the time. So we did a lot of cooking and eating, game playing, reading, looking at the beautiful view, and just generally goofing around together.

mukilteo ferry

family games

view from our house

cousins: Sylvia and Lucy

silly girls

jp, liam, lucy, milo on a walk

relaxed parents

It was special to spend this time with Joel's family. They're fun and sweet, and there was always someone around to play a game with the boys or take Lucy for a walk, so Joel and I were able to relax a little. We did luxurious things like take naps, go for long runs, and lounge around watching football all afternoon. Grandma June is 92, lives alone, takes walks on the beach, and plays a mean game of gin rummy. She made a huge box of ginger snaps for the weekend and played ball with Lucy all afternoon.

hope

Turns out, beauty still exists in the world. Amid the myriad bad news of the past week - suffering in Haiti, Ted Kennedy's legacy being replaced by a naked-truck-loving-republican, the dismal outlook for health care reform, tough news from a dear friend's CAT scan, the tragic death of a three-year old Eugene girl - something as simple and miraculous as a rainbow over my city can lift my spirits.

a new year

I lost my voice on the last day of 2009. I decided it was a metaphor for all the things I wanted to let go of from the past year, allowing me to start the new year quietly and with purpose.

The last weeks of 2009 saw some sadnesses for a lot of people we love. I dedicate 2010 to peace and resiliency.

Per tradition, Liam and Milo spent the new year at the beach with my dad. Lucy slept through it, and Joel and I celebrated with dear friends and family, doing exactly what feeds us the most: spending time with people we love...

being goofy...
and sharing great food...

The next morning, Meagan and I ran Eugene's First Run, a 5K along the river. It had been pouring for days, but just before the race started the clouds parted and we ran under a blue sky and sparkly sunshine. Despite slight handicaps (Meg was sore from snowboarding and I had laryngitis...not to mention the quantity of champagne we'd both had only hours before...), we finished in 27 minutes, just about a 9 minute mile. (This picture is terrible, but at least it captures the blue sky day!)

(Then the Ducks lost the Rosebowl. But we were too happy being with our friends to be sad for long. There's always next year...)

ski day

We spent our first ski day of the year at Willamette Pass, a smallish ski area about 1.5 hours from Eugene. Joel and Jess and I switched off in the lodge with Lucy, and we all got in a full day on the slopes.
I have put myself into the low intermediate category of skiers. If only I could conquer my fear of the speed... Joel, however, is quite an expert snowboarder. I wish I had caught an action shot of his jumps and other tricks.
Liam tucks and speeds straight down the mountain. No fear in that one.

And after the day was over, we did a little reverse tailgating in the parking lot before coming home for soup and wine.